Algorithm Design Questions
Radix sort is a non-comparative sorting algorithm that sorts data by grouping elements based on their individual digits or significant positions. It starts by sorting the elements based on the least significant digit and progressively moves towards the most significant digit.
The algorithm works by distributing the elements into different buckets based on the value of the current digit being considered. After distributing all the elements, the elements are collected back from the buckets in the order they were placed, forming a new sorted sequence. This process is repeated for each digit, from the least significant to the most significant, until the entire sequence is sorted.
Radix sort can be implemented using either the least significant digit (LSD) or the most significant digit (MSD) approach. In the LSD approach, the sorting starts from the rightmost digit, while in the MSD approach, it starts from the leftmost digit.
The time complexity of radix sort is O(d * (n + k)), where d is the number of digits in the maximum element, n is the number of elements, and k is the range of values for each digit. Radix sort is often used for sorting integers or fixed-length strings efficiently.